Charly | 1968

Cliff Robertson (Uncle Ben in the Sam RaimiSpider-Man) won Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal as the mentally-challenged bakery worker who becomes a genius after experimental surgery, only to realize that the effects are only temporary. It had been a pet project of his since he played the role in a TV production.

The film was made in Boston, where Charly Gordon lives in South Boston at 106 G Street, a couple of doors down from the obstetric nurse visited by Paul Newman in Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict.

The ‘Nemur-Straus Clinic’, where the mind-altering experiments are performed on Charly, is 5 Commonwealth Avenue, at Arlington Street, just west of Boston Public Garden, (where you’ll find the famous bench from Good Will Hunting).

And a few blocks east of Charly’s home in South Boston, you’ll find the L Street Tavern, famous from the same film